Smiley faces all round: Australia introduces emoji number plates

Ever been tempted to get a personalised number plate, but not sure how you can show your personality in a collection of numbers and letters?

Well, authorities in Australia might have the answer. From March, motorists in Queensland will be able to legally jazz up their number plates with emojis.

So, whether you’re a winking face kind of girl or a sunglasses kind of guy, you can craft the perfect plate to reflect your personality.

Five emoji options to show your personality

The emojis will cost a little extra and will only be used for decoration, but motorists will have five options – winking face, cool sunglasses, heart eyes, smiley face, and the always-hilarious laughing out loud emoji.

Motorists on social media have welcomed the news, although many are hoping that the success of the scheme will see more emojis introduced.

At a cost of $475 (around £260) though, some say the move is simply another way for authorities to make extra money from the demand for personalised number plates.

In that case, they may even help identify drivers in emergencies, after all, it’s easier to remember a car with an crying-laughing face on it than it is an alphanumeric.

The rise of emojis

More than 700 million emojis are used in Facebook posts every day, according to the online reference platform Emojipedia. The number of emoji characters has risen to more than 2,800 — and there is even an unofficial World Emoji Day on 17th July.

UK authorities have no plans to introduce emoji number plates, but who knows what could happen in the future if the Queensland scheme is a success?

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